Saturday, May 4, 2013

Chile Relleno's stuffed with Cheese

You ever go to a restaurant and order one particular dish because you can never replicate it at home? I used to do that with Chile Relleno's.
Chile Relleno
  I would always order them when we ate out because I loved the Chile and the oozing melty cheese and the pillow of batter that surrounded the Chile and cheese in a sublime symphony of flavors. Sometimes they were hot, sometimes just nice and mild.   For years I tried replicating the batter, and failed.   I'd ask for the recipe or the how to's when we visited different restaurants.   But it was never right.  Then a friend told me the secret, and I've been making them this way ever since.  The enchilada sauce is almost an afterthought, but not quite. You still need a good quality enchilada sauce though. If you have a favorite brand, by all means use that or your own home made sauce. I like Hatch's Enchilada Sauce. But Rosarita Enchilada Sauce works great as well.    
Start with some fresh Anaheim Chile's. 

Roast them over some open flame or under the broiler in your oven, til the skin turns black and blisters. 
(I have a gas stove so I just put them on the burner and turn them til they're blistered and ready to go.) 
Then take them off and place them in a plastic bag, and close it and let them rest. 
You can cover them with a towel at this point. The peppers will continue to cook a little and by placing them in the bag, it will help to peel off the blackened skin. At this point, you can freeze the chiles to use at a later date. Just place them in a single layer on a pan, and freeze, and put them in a ziploc bag for later use. When they're frozen you can take them out one by one and use as needed. I use frozen chile's for a lot of different recipes. Take the blackened skin off by either rubbing it off with a paper towel or if frozen, just rinse them off and then remove the skin.
(If you can't find fresh peppers, try looking for some whole canned chiles, and use those. They'll make good Relleno's as well.) 
***Hint  At this point, you can freeze the blackened Chiles in a single layer and then take them out when you want to make Chile Relleno's again.   I always do extra's if I can get decent looking Anaheim Chiles.  
After removing the blackened skin, 
cut around the stem end of the chile and remove the stem and the seeds, as much as you can pull out easily. You should have a nice pocket to place the cheese inside. 
Place the chile's aside and prepare the batter. Use about 1 egg for each two or three chiles. Separate the eggs, yolks in one bowl, and egg whites in another. 

Start by beating egg whites together until soft peaks form. Add one heaping tablespoon flour for each egg white and fold together. Fold in the reserved egg yolks. Set aside.
Cut some Monterey Jack cheese into strips, 

stuffing the chiles with the cheese. I sprinkle some flour on a plate, then place the stuffed chiles on there and sift some flour on top of them.

Heat some oil in one pan and enchilada sauce in another pan. Shake off the excess flour and dip the stuffed chile in the batter
and then place it in the oil you have heating in the pan. 

Fry it on one side until golden, flip it over and finish cooking. These really don't take very long to cook. Remove from pan and keep warm, while the remainder finish cooking. Serve with the hot enchilada sauce. 

Chile Relleno
Ready to eat.  
Chile Relleno Recipe  Serves 2-3
6 Anaheim Chiles, 
3 eggs, separated, egg whites beaten to soft peaks
3 heaping tablespoons flour + more for dredging
6 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese. 
Oil for frying
Hatch's Enchilada Sauce
Prepare the chiles according to above instructions.   Stuff the chiles with the cheese, dredge in flour, dip in batter and fry.     Serve with enchilada sauce.


And just wanted to pop this in here, for some other great recipes from other bloggers, check out this link Carole's Chatter  She's got a bunch of bloggers who've posted links to their Mexican Recipes.  I've been having fun looking at them at any rate.


Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I love to hear from my readers, so please feel free to drop me a note, let me know if you like something I made, it makes my day.